Truckee Donner Public Utility District case study

Case Study
Organization
Truckee Donner Public Utility
District (PUD)
Location
Truckee, California
Industry
Electric and Water Utility
Smooth and Complete
Fiber Optic Design
Truckee Donner Public Utility District (PUD) avoided the high cost of poor fiberoptic design by building a single-mode fiber-optic system to improve both
data reliability and security for existing infrastructure. The system will also help
operators prepare for smart grid and new SCADA technology.
What did they do?
Truckee Donner PUD operators moved smoothly through the design and
planning stages. They used the utility’s existing ArcGIS® platform from Esri
and the Fiber Manager solution from Esri partner Telvent ® to perform location
analytics that would determine all the materials needed for its project—from
cable footage to the number of splices required for each specific splice box.
When utility operators accepted contractor bids for the project, they already
had a well-organized plan, complete with a clear understanding of the required
materials and cost.
Do I need this?
An intuitive, visual interface solution, based on ArcGIS technology from Esri®,
helps utilities design everything from the actual path of the fiber optics to
the assets the fibers will be tied to, like overhead pole lines, underground
communication lines, or live electrical conduits. Additionally, the seamless,
map-based data format enables operators to determine the best transition
points, splice locations, cable sizing, and circuit paths.
For more information, visit esri.com/telecom.
“We planned a 400,000foot land fiber network
to interconnect our data
center with five electrical
substations and 42 water
stations. From the
beginning, we were able
to present the contractor
with a well-organized
plan, complete with
map layouts and splice
diagrams.”
Ian Fitzgerald
IT/GIS Operations Manager
Truckee Donner PUD
Need more details?
During the design phase of the fiber network, Truckee
Donner PUD operators had to be 100 percent sure that
any layout would accommodate existing and future data
requirements and system specifications. In the build phase,
the district needed documentation that could accurately
direct the contractor to construct, splice, and label cable for
the system. To address quality control, the district required
absolute knowledge of decibel loss for every fiber, cable,
and circuit to ensure that construction was completed to
contract specifications.
“Fiber optics is one of the most difficult utility networks to
design, manage, and quality control,” said Ian Fitzgerald,
Truckee Donner PUD IT/GIS operations manager. “The
ArcGIS software-based solution gave us the information
we needed to normalize and standardize the number of
cables we keep in stock and purchase the right equipment.
Streamlining our inventory needs significantly keeps our
stocking costs down and helps ensure we are using the right
cables not just for right now, but for our future growth.”
The ArcGIS software-based solution provided additional
benefits to the staff at Truckee Donner PUD:
• An interactive map helped planners establish correct
sizing and monitor the fiber availability of every cable
throughout the entire system. Real-time data allowed the
utility to identify the locations of any cables of incorrect
size and to readjust the sizing before it became a costly
mistake.
• Capacity analysis enabled operators to plan ahead to
ensure that the utility will not run out of fiber as the
city and infrastructure continue to grow. Planning will
save both time and money, since replacing fibers after
implementation is nearly impossible and extremely
expensive.
• Advanced modeling and reporting capabilities provided
the contractor with critical information that helped all
teams work as efficiently as possible. PUD’s splicing
contractor commented that in her 20 years in the
industry, she had never seen a more organized, prepared,
and accurate project.
A map provides detailed design of Truckee
Donner’s fiber network serving a residential area
of downtown Truckee.
ArcGIS enables Truckee Donner staff to visualize fiber paths based on the number of
available strands.
For more information, visit esri.com/telecom.
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